Wide variety of costs in meths, buy in bulk from a cheaper supplier and decant into an appropriate bottle for the trip. Up in the north, cheapest town shop is Wilkinsons.
I'd say if you exercised all the flexible options on a Trangia, then up-front cost is higher, I mean a duossal one with kettle is around £60 I think. They just simply work and keep working for a very long time and you can cook regular meals using watever a local shop may have. The sort of thing I may do for one meal is buy some chicken from local co-op, chop and brown in the larger pan, pour on some curry sauce, place on simmer ring and cook for 20mins, then add one cup of rice two cups of water and steam it using the curry on top protected itself by the lid. You then create a nice meal for two. In summer if you cook too much you can share with someone else doing a barBQ. Mind you... that's with-bike where you may arrive at campsite with a day's food but then bike into village to stock-up and can use fresh meat, fresh veg, and heavier tinned foods.
Mind you, I was taught to soak my oats overnight and place a block of cheese in the stream to keep it cold, wrap bacon around eggs to protect them, so that's like stone-age ideas. Ugh, I'll get my mammoth coat.....
Billy, if you can't be persuaded to make your own, Google "Swedish Army Trangia" (pages from the UK). You'll find lots of military surplus shops offering them cheaply. Since the are virtually indestructable a second-hand version for about a fiver is O.K., or pay about a tenner for an unused one.
The Swedish Army version of the Trangia differs from the version sold for domestic use in the U.K., so search for Utube videos on "Swedish Army Trangia".
The running cost of a trangia is not a lot (for me) but meths is not cheap-£15.00 per 5 litres? Gas canisters are not cheap either... The cost of the trangia stove is average as far as camping stuff goes. They are by far one of the simplest and easiest stoves to use which is why they are still popular today and still used by outdoor ed groups etc. Nothing to go wrong, no parts to break or loose. Dependable.
If I am camping for more than a day or two I use my multi fuel running on paraffin as it is cheaper than say a trangia. If you make a lot of tea and cook proper meals then the money I save by using the multi fuel adds up. The daily saving is probably in order of 20-50p per day. If you use the stove a lot you will get your money back.
I only use my trangia for secondary cooking when base camping or car camping now or I loan it to freinds who want to try their hand at camping.
If you spend say 25 on a gas stove, £3 on gas and £10 on pots and pans you will be in the same price bracket as a trangia. Unless weight is a problem I would get the trangia because it won't let you down.
Hi Mal, (Dynddinas). I had heard that, but never seen the numbers. If you can pop it on the kitchen stove some time, I'd be glad to see the actual weight.
Granted my Duossal 27K weighs 1052g, but that includes two bigger pans and is generally a much better stove.
Whilst they're usually referred to as the 'Swedish Army Trangia', they're actually made by SVEA. Mine is date stamped 1962, so it's older than me. Just...
If you really don't fancy making your own drink can stove, there are a number of commercially-made versions. Check the range at Winwood Outdoor (see left).
Such a setup could be appreciatively lightened by using a specially made coke can type burner to use with it. Its own burner is a bit of a brass monster. There again, if you don't want to do that and you are strapped for cash how about this for starting out? All Weather Scout Alcohol Cookset - CP120
"But £29.00!! Why did no one tell me you need to take out a second mortgage to fund this outdoor living habit?"
Billy, you don't really need a fortune to enjoy walking the hills unless you are scared witless of not being seen with the newest, shiniest and most expensive gear.
Firstly, a spend like £29.00 on a genuine Trangia cooking system is likely to be a once in a lifetime purchase because if you look after it, it will probably last long enough in a good enough condition for you to be able to pass it on to another generation in full working order.
Many of us take great pride in showing off our bargains and great amusement from the sniffy attitudes and contemptuous glances of the ATGNFI bunch. Of course many of us still scrimp and scrape and save like mad to be able to afford really good, dependable gear but that is a gradual, long haul process so in the meantime we make do with the adequate but cheap and any good second hand gear we can get our hands on. That doesn't mean to say we resent those nice and competent people who are fortunate enough to be able to afford all the good quality, nice looking technical gear. In spite of their sartorial elegance and up to date, high performance gear, they don't look down their noses at you and are just as helpful, sociable and welcoming as any other good person.
BTW on that link I gave you above the so called Swedish army Trangia is 5 down on the page and overpriced. The cheapest Trangia-like alcohol storm cooker is 11 down. It's likely to be made of thin, soft, easily dinted aluminium but is a short term solution. It's only 750 gms all in which is fairly light but probably says a lot about its likely quality.
The problem is that we all have slightly different preferences. You can ask three genuine experts on this site what is the best (say) tent for backpacking and get three different answers. You can only decide what backpacking kit suits you when you have some experience. But to get the experience you need backpacking kit.
The solution? Go for the cheapest gear that will get you out there, as long as you have reason to believe that it will do the job. Replace it bit by bit with something better when you know what is better for you.
OT but tell me, why would anyone pay ten quid for an AntigravityGear ultralightweight stove made from discarded soft drinks cans and little else when you can make it yourself for virtually nowt? I wonder if Coca Cola or Pepsi are aware that these stoves are being made with their logos or parts thereof being perfectly visible on the finished product and being sold at vast profit. I'm willing to make these to order for £1.00 plus p&p at vast profit which will be donated to the WENINTOV (weekend nightime in town vomitting) syndrome research fund.
> OT but tell me, why would anyone pay ten quid for an AntigravityGear ultralightweight stove made from discarded soft drinks cans
I don't think that £10 is that unreasonable considering the time it takes to make (assuming they're not employing Chinese child labour...)
They've also spent quite a bit of time perfecting the design, and the ones I've seen looked very well made; I'm pretty good with my hands, but none of my efforts have been as neat, or, I suspect, as efficient.
Even so, I'd strongly recommend searching old threads for can stove links; there are loads of websites describing them, and loads of designs to choose from. Just to prove I could, I built one (a side-burner) whilst drinking beers after the pub on a campsite, using only my trusty '52 pattern penknife. It worked, although it was a little thirsty on fuel.
£29 for a Trangia is a good price when you factor in that it includes three pans and a burner; you try getting a canister gas stove & pans for that price.
Oh, and for the lightweight freaks, Trangia pans work out lighter than expensive titanium... and they're only about £5 a pop.
Oh, and back to the original query; hexamine stoves are disgusting, feeble, dirty things giving off carcinogens. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole (and no, that's not looking down my nose at anyone...)
> In spite of their sartorial elegance and up to date, high performance gear, they don't look down their noses at you
Indeed; I have enough kit to equip a small army, ranging from Lidl to Patagonia and Arc'teryx, but I still like finding and pointing out bargains and free stuff. Not sure I manage the sartorial elegance, though...
I watched a video recently of the production of these stoves and with a low cost, task specific setup it takes about 3 minutes to make a stove, that's 20 an hour. It now takes me half an hour to make one without the setup.
The longest burn time I've managed for a top burner, pressure jet type stove was just over 11 minutes. That one has burnt out now and the best I've managed since is just over 8 minutes. I've never used one out on the hill yet and I don't know if I ever will, these things are not the most robust bits of gear and I can be a bit hard on kit.
